This invention relates to a tamper-evident enclosure for the storage and transport of documents such as bank notes, visa slips, gift tokens, cheques and the like.
Typically, at a point of sale such as a cashier's desk in a supermarket, a container is suspended beneath the desk for the intermittent reception of bank notes. It may be used to store notes as they are taken from customers, and/or as an “overflow” for a till on or in the desk. When the pile of notes of a particular denomination in the till reaches a given level it may be transferred to the container, which offers better security than the till. Periodically the loaded containers are taken by security personnel to a bank, or more usually they are taken by the staff to a central counting room, where the money is counted and bagged for transport to the bank.
Some containers currently in use are rigid boxes which slide into and out of guides beneath a counter whereby they are supported. Provision is normally made for locking them in position. The front face of a container is upwardly inclined and has an exposed top opening through which one or more notes can be inserted. Behind the inclined front face is a barrier with a central, vertical slot. A plunger mechanism hinged near the bottom of the barrier can be manipulated, when notes have been inserted, to push them through the slot into the body of the container.
Containers of this kind have numerous drawbacks. They are expensive to produce and are not adequately tamper proof. Money behind the slotted barrier is still accessible through the opening and can be “fished” using, for example, adhesive tape. The relatively clumsy plunger mechanism can trap fingers and damage nails.
Another type of apparatus is a container as described in our patent application number PCT/GB01/03831 (published as WO 02/19289). The application describes a rigid frame spanned by flexible material, the frame having parallel sides provided with channels which receive side edges of a cover plate. The cover plate is slideable along the channels to close the frame and has a leading edge comprising a tongue which enters a correspondingly shaped flexible hollow formation on the frame. The arrangement is such that when the cover plate fully closes the frame the tongue is locked in the formation. The plate can be removed only by breaking the tongue. This provides immediate evidence of tampering.
No container, however strong, will withstand a determined attempt to breach it. All that is in practice necessary is to be able to determine immediately and with certainty that a breach has occurred so that the culprit can be apprehended and identified and/or to ensure that appropriate accounting adjustments are made to compensate for the breach.